Twist-collapsible storage box

ABSTRACT

A twist-collapsible storage box, which includes a soft rectangular box body, a bottom board mounted inside the box body and closely attached to the horizontal bottom wall of the box body, four horizontal rod members respectively fastened to the four vertical sidewalls of the box body in horizontal at the top, and four vertical rod members respectively fastened to the four angles between each two adjacent vertical sidewalls of the box body in vertical and kept spaced from the ends of the horizontal rod members at a gap.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a storage box and more particularly, toa twist-collapsible storage box that is folding collapsible through atwisting action.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

A storage box may be made folding collapsible so as to save storagespace when not in use. A known folding collapsible storage box comprisesa rectangular box body made out of soft fabric, four horizontal top rodsrespectively fastened to the four sides of the rectangular box body, inhorizontal at the top side, two horizontal bottom rods respectivelyfastened to two opposite bottom sides of the rectangular box body inhorizontal, and four vertical rods respectively fastened to the fourangles of the rectangular box body in vertical and kept spaced from theends of the horizontal top rods and the horizontal bottom rods at a gap.The rod members support the rectangular box body in a three-dimensionalshape for holding things. When twisting the upper part of the storagebox, the storage box is collapsed.

This structure of storage box is complicated. Further, the horizontaltop and bottom rods and the vertical rods are rigid rod members thatcause an inconvenience to the folding operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide atwist-collapsible storage box, which has a simple structure and caneasily be twisted into a collapsed status.

To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, thetwist-collapsible storage box comprises a soft rectangular box body, thebox body having a top opening, four vertical sidewalls, and a horizontalbottom wall, and a supporting structure for supporting the box body inshape for holding things, wherein the supporting structure comprises abottom board inserted into the inside of the box body and attached tothe horizontal bottom wall, four horizontal rod members respectivelyfastened to the four vertical sidewalls of said box body horizontal at atop side, and four vertical rod members respectively fastened to the boxbody in between each two adjacent vertical sidewalls of the box body invertical and kept spaced from the ends of the horizontal rod members ata gap.

Further, the box body has a horizontal insertion slot in one verticalsidewall thereof adjacent to the horizontal bottom wall through whichthe bottom board is inserted into the inside of the box body andattached to the horizontal bottom wall.

When collapsing the twist-collapsible storage box, it is not necessaryto take the bottom board out of the box body, and the user can directlytwist the top side of the twist-collapsible storage box to collapse thetwist-collapsible storage box smoothly.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction tothe present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a twist-collapsible storage box accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an alternate form of the twist-collapsiblestorage box according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing showing the twist-collapsing action of thepresent invention (I).

FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing showing the twist-collapsing action of thepresent invention (II).

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing the twist-collapsing action of thepresent invention (III).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and arenot intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1, a twist-collapsible storage box in accordance withthe present invention is shown comprising a box body 1 and a bottomboard 2.

The box body 1 is made out of a tough and resilient fabric (for example,canvass) of certain thinness by stitching, having a top opening, abottom wall and four vertical sidewalls. Further, four horizontal rodmembers 12 are respectively fastened to the four vertical sidewalls ofthe box body 1 in horizontal at the top. Four vertical rod members 13are respectively fastened to the four corners in between each twoadjacent vertical sidewalls of the box body 1 in vertical and keptspaced from the ends of the horizontal rod members 12 at a gap.According to this embodiment, the horizontal rod members 12 and thevertical rod members 13 are flexible rod members. When the user twiststhe twist-collapsible storage box, the rod members 12 and 13 can becurved to facilitate the twisting action. The rod members 12 and 13 canbe glass fiber rods, carbon fiber rods, spring rods, or other suitabletough and resilient rods.

The rod members 12 and 13 can be fastened to the box body 1 withstitches, i.e., horizontal and vertical pockets are respectivelyprovided at the top side of each of the four vertical sidewalls of thebox body 1 and the angle between each two adjacent vertical sidewallsfor holding the rod members 12 and 13.

The bottom board 2 fits the horizontal bottom wall of the box body 1,and is inserted into the box body 1 and closely attached to the topsurface of the horizontal bottom wall of the box body 1 to keep thevertical rod members 13 in vertical, thereby supporting the box body 1in shape.

FIG. 2 shows an alternate form of the present invention. According tothis embodiment, a horizontal insertion slot 14 is formed in onevertical sidewall of the box body 1 near the bottom side correspondingto the height (thickness) and width of the bottom board 2 so that thebottom board 2 can be inserted through the horizontal insertion slot 14into the inside of the box body I and closely attached to the topsurface of the horizontal bottom wall of the box body.

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, when the twist-collapsible storage box is notused, twisting the top side of the twist-collapsible storage box inclockwise direction or counter-clockwise direction (for example,counter-clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 3) while keeping the bottomside of the twist-collapsible storage box immovable without taking thebottom board 2 out of the box body 1. At this time, the verticalsidewalls of the box body 1 are twisted, and the rod members 12 and 13are properly curved without damage, allowing smoothly performance of thetwist action. When continuing the twisting action, the height of thetwisted box body 1 is gradually lowered, and the four vertical sidewallsof the box body 1 are respectively folded into a triangular shape (seeFIG. 4). At final, the top and bottom sides of the box body 1 areclosely attached together, and the four triangles that are formed of thefour vertical sidewalls of the box body 1 are abutted against oneanother and smoothly attached to the top surface of the horizontalbottom wall of the box body 1 (see FIG. 5). The collapsed status of thetwist-collapsible storage box has a flat shape convenient for storage ordelivery with less space occupation. When keeping the twist-collapsiblestorage box in the collapsed status for a certain length of time,folding lines 11 will be formed out of the triangular contour of thecollapsed vertical sidewalls of the box body 1 due to the pressure ofthe weight of the twist-collapsible storage box itself or other loadsrested on the collapsed twist-collapsible storage box. These foldinglines 11 will facilitate further collapsing action of thetwist-collapsible storage box.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. A twist-collapsible storage box comprising a soft rectangular boxbody, said box body having a top opening, four vertical sidewalls, and ahorizontal bottom wall, and a supporting structure for supporting saidbox body in shape for holding things, wherein said supporting structurecomprises a bottom board inserted into the inside of said box body andattached to said horizontal bottom wall, four horizontal rod membersrespectively fastened to said four vertical sidewalls of said box bodyin horizontal at a top side, and four vertical rod members respectivelyfastened to said box body in between each two adjacent verticalsidewalls of said box body in vertical and kept spaced from the ends ofsaid horizontal rod members at a gap.
 2. The twist-collapsible storagebox as claimed in claim 1, wherein said box body is made out of afabric.
 3. The twist-collapsible storage box as claimed in claim 1,wherein said horizontal rod members and said vertical rod members areflexible rod members.
 4. The twist-collapsible storage box as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said box body has a horizontal insertion slot in onevertical sidewall thereof adjacent to said horizontal bottom wallthrough which said bottom board is inserted into the inside of said boxbody and attached to said horizontal bottom wall.